posted Sep 14th, 2010 - The 4-way and 8-way events at the USPA Nationals 2010 both came to conclusions early. The 4-way competition was on schedule and completed on Sunday afternoon. The 8-way teams were even faster and did all ten rounds in record time.

The nine Open Class teams completed the whole meet on one day, while the Intermediate Class teams had to show up for one or two more rounds this morning. Meet Director Coach Bill Wenger decided to push the pace since bad weather was looming ahead. The 16-way and 10-way events are still to come at Skydive Chicago.

The ESL Championship 2010 was concluded on Saturday with a few rounds missing. The weather forecast was not promising for Sunday, and the ESL management decided to call it a meet at the end of Saturday. UK correspondent Joanne Hawley provided the meet story.

ESL Championship 2010

As the teams gathered for the ESL Championship 2010 draw on a glorious Thursday evening, hopes were high for good weather and lots of skydives. Jumping began on Friday morning with blue skies. However, after only three rounds, the clouds had taken over the sky. Most teams managed to complete three more jumps the following morning before the famous Texel winds got too strong.

Four Dutch teams fought it out in the AAA Class, but with a complex and slow draw weren’t able to post the averages they were used to. Whooops was in first place from Round 1 and never looked back. The race for silver and bronze medals became a grudge match between rivals Turbulence and Ignition.

By Saturday afternoon the teams were on tenterhooks due to the wind and clouds. As the weather deteriorated, the teams were on standby with little hope of more jumps being done. If the last missing AAA Class team (4tunate) couldn’t complete Round 7, then the scores after Round 6 would count, which would reverse the silver and bronze positions.

ESL Championship 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	F,K,10,D	9,12,20	4,B,P,1	16,2,13	17,3,H	O,14,C,G	8,18,Q	Total	Avg
1	Netherlands Whooops	15	11	14	12	15	15	13	95	13.6
2	Netherlands Turbulence	14	10	13	12	11	12	11	83	11.9
3	Netherlands Ignition	13	10	14	11	12	13	9	82	11.7
4	Netherlands 4tunate	12	4	10	6	10	9	8	59	8.4

Thankfully at the end of the day on Saturday, there was enough blue in the sky to convince everyone that a couple of loads could go up. Despite having had the upper hand all season, Ignition had to settle for bronze, as Turbulence claimed the silver.

There was a similar situation for gold and silver in the AA Class competition. Belgium FWCP had stormed back into the gold medal position in Round 6 during what had been a neck and neck contest with Dutch team Creeps. Cool Runnings, although no longer in contention for a medal, was one round behind the rest of the teams in this category.

Cool Runnings had not jumped Round 6 due to a camera malfunction forcing the team to rejump an earlier round. This rendered the round incomplete. If Cool Runnings was unable to jump, the scores for Round 6 would be dismissed, and Creeps would win. However, Cool Runnings jumped at the end of the day, and the relieved Belgian team began with the celebrations. British team Old Skool posted the best scores of the season and won the bronze medals.

ESL Championship 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	F,K,D,1	9,20	4,B,P	2,13	H,G,Q,7	O,14,C	8,18	Total	Avg
1	Belgium FWCP	12	12	17	10	16	14	-	81	13.5
2	Netherlands Creeps	17	9	13	11	18	11	-	79	13.2
3	UK Old Skool	12	10	11	9	13	8	-	63	10.5
4	Netherlands Cool Runnings	10	10	12	9	10	7	-	58	9.7

In the A Class competition, UK team Gr4vity fended off some strong teams to take the gold medals in the most competitive category. With just three points separating gold and bronze, Dutch team Murphy Mania managed to snatch silver from the Czech team Crazy Dragons who were pleased with the bronze medals.

Although finishing at the bottom of the A Class leaderboard, the Belgian Skyrockets certainly made their presence felt as the noisiest team on the dropzone - and not just because of their shiny silver suits, although they were pretty loud, too...

Mach 4 from the Netherlands won the Rookie Class gold medals comfortably. The British High Altitude Heroes added a set of silver medals to their bronze medals at the UK Nationals 2010. The Blue Rebels from Greece finished in the same position as last year and left once again with bronze medals.

ESL Championship 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	F,K,D	9,P	4,B	2,7	H,G,Q	O,C,21	8,F	Total	Avg
1	UK Gr4vity	15	13	13	9	14	12	-	76	12.7
2	Netherlands Murphy Mania	15	13	10	10	15	11	-	74	12.3
3	CZ Crazy Dragons	17	13	9	11	13	10	-	73	12.2
4	Netherlands Meo	16	10	8	9	6	13	-	62	10.3
5	UK Nimeton	11	10	7	9	10	8	-	55	9.2
6	Belgium Skyrockets	7	5	3	3	6	0	-	24	4.0

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010

With the Dutch delegation winning two sets of gold and silver medals, the British gold, silver and bronze were not enough to stop the Netherlands from holding onto the ESL Spirit. It was the first time that a country has ever retained the sword in the ESL Championship history.

With only 19 teams competing this year, we have to hope that next year’s event will be back to full strength, as this celebration of European 4-way competition for teams in all categories has the potential to provide a great experience of international competition.

Organiser Mike Pennock is already making plans for next year. Where will it be held? Will the Brits bring more teams and challenge for the sword? Will we get the French teams, Spain and Germany to come along? If you are making your plans for 2011, bring your team to the ESL Championship 2011. You might just come home with some European silverware for your efforts.

ESL Championship 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Total	Avg
Rank	Rookie Class	F,K,D	P,J,M	B,N,E	L,A,D	H,G,Q	O,C,P	F,B,H	Total	Avg
1	Netherlands MACH4	13	16	12	8	12	-	-	61	12.2
2	UK High Altitude Heroes	10	16	12	9	7	-	-	54	10.8
3	Greece Blue Rebels	12	9	10	9	11	-	-	51	10.2
4	Netherlands Tiramisu	9	15	11	6	7	-	-	48	9.6
5	Netherlands 4tune Cookies	9	11	9	7	5	-	-	41	8.2